The Buff

Month: July 2018

The problem is how does anyone know if those “High Standards” are being met and exactly how is “Accountability” established?

Certainly, there are those within both the Democrat and Republican Parties, who don’t meet the “High Standards” Ozzie refers to in his campaign rhetoric but as is the case with many Politicians finding out who doesn’t meet those high standards can be a real battle, and in most cases can only be established through someone seeking the truth and reporting the truth, often using the much-dreaded Washington State Public Records Act.

Most Investigative Journalists receive a lot of information from various sources regarding the misuse of public funds, and I’m no exception. If it is an election cycle more and more information will come in from various sources. If I only receive information from one source I tend to just file the information away and not begin the Investigative Process. On the other hand, when I receive information from more than one source on both sides of the isle…that peeks my interest and I get started. Such is the case with information and documents I received regarding Ozzie’s candidate and recently elected Progressive Spokane Valley Council Member Brandi Peetz.

Ozzie of course who “identifies” as a Republican has no problem endorsing Progressive candidates if they are even remotely associated with or running against his hated deplorables Republicans Matt Shea, or Rob Chase, which makes everything kind of interesting as far as this story is concerned.

The question raised from sources was whether or not Spokane Valley Council Member Brandi Peetz took advantage of taxpayers’ dollars and went on a junket with her husband to Washington DC for the Greater Spokane Incorporated sponsored “Regional Fly-In”?

For those that aren’t aware the purpose of the sponsored event is to “to advocate on behalf of our region” by attending various functions and hobnobbing with big wigs. The actual trip is paid for by the different agencies whose representatives make the trip. Representing the Spokane Valley were Mayor Rod Higgins and Council Member Brandi Peetz.

Once I received more information from sources that Mrs. Peetz might have been vacationing on the public dole with her husband I did a few interviews and of course did a Public Records Request to either substantiate, or not, the information I received. The first installment of Public Records corroborate much of the information I received.

The Public Records sure indicate that Spokane Valley Council Member Peetz had lots of problems showing up “to advocate on behalf of our region” which is consistent with sources thus far.

However, keep in mind that this is only the first installment in response to my Public Records Request, and there is more coming. One interesting aspect of this Public Records Request installment is that it contained “Nissen Affidavits” from everyone involved with the exception of Council Member Peetz, but those “Nissen Affidavits” can be troublesome for some folks because they are made under oath, and if an Investigative Journalist happens to have been provided with evidence about use of private electronic devices to conduct Public Business it creates a big problem for the Government Folks.

Does anyone believe that Spokane County Prosecutor Larry Haskell would tell Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich that there was “no way I’m going to file anything on him because it will look like retaliation”, referring to Ron Wright and a Recall effort?

As for me, I would find that pretty darn hard to believe but Ozzie made that exact statement in a WSP Criminal Investigation during his formal recorded statement to the WSP during the WSP Investigation of Knezovich assaulting former Undersheriff Dave Wiyrick.

Pretty understandable why some government officials don’t like Investigative Reporters using the Public Records Act in truth seeking…don’t you think?

I REPORT YOU DECIDE!!!

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Because it is the only way to get to the truth about what government is or in some cases isn’t doing!!!

During recent conversation with another reporter we had a discussion of some of the misconduct, lack of legitimate investigations, lack of transparency, and down right lies I have been able to expose by submitting Public Records Requests and fighting to get records responsive to those requests. I am currently in yet another battle over Public Records Requests I have made to Spokane County which they are making every effort to block and once again I have been accused by Sheriff Knezovich of being a criminal for harassing him and his family by simply requesting Public Records the Public has every right to see, but I will have more on that later as the story evolves, even if I have to write the story from the troubled Spokane County Jail.

This will give you an example of what is currently going on with just one of the Public Records Requests still outstanding with Spokane County:

The common denominator in every public records request is lawyers, whether they are the subject of the PRR or are in some way responsible for providing responsive public records, it has been my experience that in some cases when lawyers become involved in Public Records Requests the process slows considerably and often requires going to Court to finally get the truth.

As folks that follow me are aware, to get to the truth I am forced in many cases to do Public Records Requests with local government entities including The City of Spokane, The City of Spokane Valley, and Spokane County to mention a few. Most of the time my PRRs expose quite a bit, and many people in the community read my stories including other reporters, politicians, political activists, candidates for office, and so on. I can always tell when there is an interest in one of my earlier stories because folks begin mining, searching them and reading them on almost a daily basis. That has been true over the last month regarding these stories which resulted from…wait for it…A PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST!!!

The reason for the interest in these stories becomes pretty obvious when you take a look at your election ballot. The sad thing in the stories is that the City never did an investigation into the issue because when a fair, full, complete and unbiased investigation is conducted usually it won’t come back to haunt someone.